Sept. 8, 2007
Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
By Matt Storey, ASU Media Relations
After a first quarter in which nearly everything seemed to go wrong, the ASU football team rebounded to defeat Colorado 33-14 before a crowd of 58,417 Saturday.
The Sun Devils turned the ball over three times and committed four penalties, including three personal fouls, in the first quarter that left them trailing by two touchdowns. They responded in the second, however, as junior quarterback Rudy Carpenter threw two touchdowns and junior safety Troy Nolan returned an interception for a score to give the Sun Devils an unlikely 19-14 lead at the half.
"We had a lot of penalties and we were down 14-nothing, but we had a chance to fight some adversity and try to come back from a deficit early on," Carpenter said. "I think it will help us out early in the season."
Carpenter led the offense with his 269 passing yards and three touchdowns, as the Sun Devils had a difficult time running the ball, averaging only 3.1 yards per carry for the game.
"We struggled running the football, and we ended up making some plays in the passing game and ended up winning the football game," said head coach Dennis Erickson, who picked up his 150th career collegiate head coaching victory in the game.
Senior running back Ryan Torain did finish with 91 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown. Carpenter added 21 rushing yards, including several important scrambles on the two second-quarter touchdown drives.
Junior receiver Mike Jones again led the Sun Devil receivers with 96 yards on six catches and two touchdowns. Sophomore Chris McGaha had three receptions for 47 yards while fellow sophomore Kyle Williams had a 22-yard touchdown catch with 14 seconds remaining in the first half to give ASU its first lead.
"I think everyone is playing really well and stepping up to the challenge," McGaha said of the receiver corps. "If teams are going to play us man-to-man, they are going to find out they really can't do that."
The ASU defense performed well for a second straight week, forcing two turnovers, holding Colorado to just 39 rushing yards and limiting Buffaloes quarterback Cody Hawkins to just 15-42 passing on the night.
"We would not have won the football game had we not played good defensively tonight," Erickson said. "The guys are just flying around. Coach [Craig] Bray and his defensive staff are doing a good job. I'm real happy with where we're at defensively."
Senior linebacker Robert James led the team in tackles for the second consecutive game with nine, including 4.5 tackles for loss, and he also recorded his second sack of the season.
Still, Erickson was frustrated by his team's 12 penalties for 136 yards, including eight personal foul calls.
"I'm just really disappointed in the penalties," Erickson said. "There's no excuse for that. It's not going to happen ever again."
Colorado got on the scoreboard first, as cornerback Terrence Wheatley intercepted Carpenter's first pass of the game and returned it 35 yards for a score.
Later in the first, the Buffaloes recovered a fumble at the ASU 17-yard line after senior tight end Tyrice Thompson inadvertently touched the ball on a punt return. The Sun Devil defense forced Colorado into a field goal attempt, but junior linebacker Morris Wooten was called for a personal foul leaping penalty. The Buffaloes would take advantage of the second chance, as Hawkins threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Scotty McKnight for a 14-0 lead.
ASU turned the ball over on downs on its first drive of the second quarter, but the Sun Devils went 80 yards on 12 plays on their next drive that ended with Carpenter's 12-yard touchdown pass to Jones.
Nolan intercepted Hawkins on Colorado's ensuing possession and returned the ball 26 yards for a touchdown, but freshman kicker Thomas Weber missed the extra point and the Sun Devils trailed 14-13.
However, Carpenter would lead another scoring drive before the half, this time a nine-play, 86-yard drive capped by Williams' diving grab in the back of the end zone to give the Sun Devils a 19-14 lead after the two-point conversion attempt failed.
"That was an unbelievable catch," Carpenter said. "We needed a big play and Kyle ran a pretty good route. He made an unbelievable catch. I think that was what really sparked us to continue to kick it into another gear and to start playing well."
The Sun Devils added another touchdown on their first drive of the third quarter as Torain scored from seven yards out, and then Carpenter found Jones for a 20-yard touchdown late in the third to cap the scoring for the game.
NOTES: Carpenter's eight-yard completion to Thompson in the first quarter put him over 5,000 yards passing in his career...Carpenter's three touchdowns gave him 45 for his career, putting him seventh on the all-time list among ASU quarterbacks, one ahead of Jeff Van Raaphorst and one behind both Ryan Kealy and Dennis Sproul...ASU has not allowed a point after halftime this season, shutting out both San Jose State and Colorado in the second half...Jones' three touchdown catches this season match his full season total from 2006.